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May 12, 2016

[CA] Important Points @ Glance: Part 5

Important Points @ Glance: Part 5

v Australia has decided to provide a three-year multiple-entry visitor visa for Indians by July 2016 on a trial basis. This is aimed at boosting Australia’s future tourism growth. This will allow entry into Australia multiple times on the same visa and each stay will be valid up to three months. Apart from India, this will be implemented in three countries — Thailand, Vietnam and Chile. The announcement of the trial was made as part of the Australian government’s 2016-17 budget. It will be applicable to eligible applicants on tourist and business visitor visa streams.

v The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. Mogao cave-temples of Dunhuang are a World Heritage Site; Mogao caves reveal pivotal India-China Buddhist link

v Scientists have discovered a “bizarre” fossil of the animal. Its head was poorly preserved, but it seemed to have a flamingo-like beak. The fossil resembled a crocodile-sized ’hammerhead’ creature, that lived 242 million years ago in what today is southern China. It is also thought to be the earliest known example of a plant-eating marine reptile. The reptile’s name, Atopodentatus unicus, hints at its muddled past — it is Latin for “unique strangely toothed.”

v Gujarat Government has issued a government resolution (GR) giving minority status to the Jain community. This move is aimed at benefitting the poor among the Jain community. Jain institutions will now get special status like the one given to Christian and Muslim institutions. Religious education on Jainism can now be taught in Jain institutes which will also be free from government interference. The move comes nearly two years after the then UPA government granted minority status to Jains in June 2014 at the national level.

Scientists claim to have developed the world’s first holographic flexible smartphone that lets users interact with 3D videos and images without any headgear or glasses. The device, dubbed HoloFlex, is capable of rendering 3D images with motion parallax and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head tracking or glasses. The device features a Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (FOLED) touch screen display.



v The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark has granted American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences the patent for the blockbuster Hepatitis C drug Sofosbuvir (brand name Sovaldi) in India. An application for the same patent was first rejected in January 2015 as lacking inventiveness and novelty. The Indian Patent Office is administered by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM) and the CGPDTM reports to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs and Trademarks.

v Scientists have unveiled the gene in carrots that gives rise to carotenoids, a critical source of Vitamin A and the pigment that turns some fruits and vegetables bright orange or red. The gene is named as DCAR_032551. With this, carrot now joins a select club of about a dozen veggies — including the potato, cucumber, tomato and pepper — whose complete genomes have been sequenced. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, a natural chemical that the body can transform into Vitamin A. The deeper the orange colour, the more beta-carotene. Vitamin A is essential for normal growth and development, the proper functioning of the immune system, and vision. Carotenoids are also antioxidants, which are thought to protect against heart disease and some forms of cancer by neutralising so-called “free radicals“, single oxygen atoms that can damage cells.

v India is ranked at ninth position in crony-capitalism with crony sector wealth accounting for 3.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to a new study by The Economist. In 2014 ranking also, India stood at the ninth place. Germany is cleanest, where just a sliver of the country’s billionaires derives their wealth from crony sectors. The index ranked Russia as the worst crony-capitalist country, followed by Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Ukraine, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey above India. Taiwan and China are ranked 10th and 11th after India.

v Fearing Chinese support in the unrest at Tawang, the government has decided not to go ahead with the planned hydroelectric projects in the district without consulting the local people and the monks, who have been protesting against the dams. Tawang is a town on India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. It is the smallest of the 16 administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India and with a population of 49,977 it is the eighth least populous district in the country. The area is historically part of Tibet and is claimed by both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is inhabited by the Monpa people. Visitors to Tawang district require a special Inner Line Permit from the government. The district has two main rivers, the Tawang Chhu and the Naymjang Chhu, that together have 10 main tributaries. These two rivers meet each other before exiting the district in a southwesterly direction. There are two major religious festivals of the Monpas viz “LOSAR” and “TORGYA“. Both festivals are celebrated once annually. The LOSAR s celebrated to the commencement of New year. Every third year of Torgya, the festival of Dungyur is celebrated.

Barack Obama will shortly visit Hiroshima. With this, he will become the first U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, the first target of an atomic bomb 70 years ago.






Important Points @ Glance: Part 2

Important Points @ Glance: Part 3

Important Points @ Glance: Part 4


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